New Coke Turns 25 Today!

SPECIAL POST:

Today marks the 25th anniversary of "New Coke".  ABC World News asked for my thoughts on this famous day in Marketing history via Skype... enjoy the video - I hope it take you back. Be patient while the video loads.

What other marketing blunders do you remember? Be sure to comment!

A Fresh Approach To Online Marketing: Article Brokering

Content is still king.. but where can you get it from? Workers in India, Malaysia and other foreign countries are now competing with Internet writers in the US, Canada, and England to deliver content for U.S. companies. By setting their prices low, they simply force native English speaking writers to drop their prices to keep up.

However, there are still American writers who can do a very decent job at $1 to $1.50 per 100 words of unique articles. The secret lies within finding them, but I will get back to that in a little bit.

So how’s this relevant to online marketing? Here’s an idea that’s been used in retail and e-commerce stores since the late ‘90s, yet for some reason it’s not very popular in the realm of article marketing. I like to call it “Article Brokering”, and it’s the same “dropshipping” business model that’s made people millions of dollars on Ebay. The idea is quite simple (the implementation isn’t as easy, though). In fact, I can narrow it down to 3 bullet points:

1) You find upscale clients who are willing to pay top dollar for QUALITY articles

2) You act as the “middleman” by finding a “supplier” (effectively, another writer) to do the job for a smaller fee than what you got paid

3) You verify what your supplier wrote, send it off to your client, pay your supplier, and keep the difference

It’s the same old real estate fixer-upper model. It’s the same old site flipping. And if you’re a content creator like me, then you work with internet marketers on a daily basis. So why haven’t you implemented this model yet?

There are numerous benefits to doing this as opposed to writing articles yourself.

First, a solid 500-word article should require quite a bit of time to research, compile, edit, and proofread. This takes me about an hour. As a content creator, how much can you charge for articles? Let’s say you charge $2 per 100 words. So that’s $10 an hour, right? In an eight-hour work day, you can earn $80 at the most. That’s not a lot of money for a very busy 8-hour work day that requires THIS much thinking. Wouldn’t you rather do half the work and earn two to three times more money?

Second, you can build a reputable brand doing this. Since you’re paying your suppliers for original content, you get full rights to it. Therefore, no one has to know that you’re outsourcing the labor.

Third, you quickly find a loyal clientele that uses you over and over for all of their content creation needs. I personally have 5 of those clients, and I get steady work from them on a weekly basis, which is very nice for an “Article Brokering” model that runs 80% on autopilot.

If you switch from being an Article Creator to being an Article Broker, you can still maintain a high standard of quality, without having to work as much. The key lies within finding an upscale clientele and a network of low-cost suppliers. The bad news is that this can be complicated if you’re inexperienced; however, with just a bit of effort, this is a lot easier than it sounds.

What do you think about this concept? Please leave your comments – we’re eager to hear from you.

Guest post by Vas Blagodarskiy, author of Article Brokering

Can Your Choice of Photography Be Hurting Your Brand?

Vision is the most advanced of our senses. We understand the world through our eyes and images play an exceptional role in human perception-we evolved to make fast decisions based in what we see, determining friend from foe at a glance.

In the modern world we grow looking at sophisticated images created by the entertainment and advertising industries. By the time we leave college we’ve been exposed to millions of these pictures and they become the criteria to cast opinions - in a blink of an eye - about what is good or bad, inferior or excellent. There is no underestimating the power of first impressions.

The photography you use creates an immediate impression as to where your company stands in terms of professionalism, attention to detail and quality control. It also identifies whether you employ inferior standards in return for lower costs!

When determining the price of creating the photography that helps you sell your products or services, step back for a moment and consider the larger picture. Does the image you use reflect the way you want customers to perceive your brand?

In this belt-tightening economy, it’s easy to fall to the temptations of using cheaper alternatives anywhere we can. Cheap stock photography floods the web, technology makes possible to have your own in house studio and employ a staff that will crank out pictures. You may even consider doing it yourself.

But does doing things cheaply have to mean cheapening your brand? It obviously pays to shop around.  You should never over pay for your photography.  At the same time, you want to create a look that’s all your own.  Start with a clear understanding of your brand, the key messages you want to communicate, and your core differentiators.

The next step is to research photography and find something that is representative of your brand.  As images are researched, consider their uniqueness and how closely they reflect your brand attributes what you want to communicate to customers.  This is essential for leaving a long term impression that lasts.

By using the right photography, you can truly elevate your brand and create something that communicates more than a sales letter or promotional piece.  There are some things you don’t want to compromise on – and one of those is the imagery used on a continuous basis.  Be clear and find the right photography to get you there.

Guest post by Mariano Pastor of Via U! Photography

Internet Marketing.. Managing It All

The problem with marketing is that there's always more to do. The reality is that marketing can be an overwhelming process and become more complex as time goes on. Launching campaigns, tracking results, revising and testing landing pages is never-ending.  So how can you manage it all?

Over the last couple of years, I've really learned the importance of prioritizing projects.  To do so, you need to have agood understanding of your goals.  What are you trying to achieve for your business?  What outcome should your marketing achieve?  Not all marketing initiatives result in a direct sale.  You may be interested in impressions, getting a link on a dot gov website or even getting a customer testimonial.  One of the best ways to manage your Internet marketing is with a clear goal.

Regardless of what you want your marketing to achieve, always be mindful of your goal.  This ensures that you are making the right decisions and effectively managing your workload.  Once you have prioritized your work, the next step is to build a daily routine that makes your marketing tasks part of your daily work.

Internet marketing requires that you are checking your accounts on a daily basis.  We all know the importance of analytics and managing PPC accounts.  Managing all of your accounts can prove time consuming and difficult to handle if left unchecked.  The key is to build these account checks into a daily routine.  With only a few minutes each day, routine tasks like logging into your 5 - 7 most important accounts make things more manageable. 

After you've prioritized your workload and integrated some daily tasks into your routine, the next step is make your large projects into smaller tasks.  Personally, I manage at least 4 or 5 large projects at a time.  However, to ensure that I don't get overwhelmed, I'm continually re-prioritizing and giving myself only 3 tasks to focus on daily.  The goal is to get those 3 tasks done no matter what the day brings.  

Marketing requires work.  It would be nice if all we had to do was press a button and results would abound.  However, this isn't the case.  We need to proactively manage our marketing and put time and energy into those activities that we believe will produce the best results.  Manage this process effectively and your sure to get results!